Potentiation of Host-Mediated Antitumor Activity by Orally Administered Mushroom (Agaricus bispora) Fruit Bodies

Abstract

When tumor-bearing mice were given diet containing fruit bodies of mushroom (Agaricus bispora) (M-feed), the tumor growth was suppressed to 66.8% in the case of MM-46 carcinoma in C3H mice and to 53.2% in the case of IMC carcinoma in CDF1 mice. To elucidate the mechanism of this action, the effect of M-feed on the macrophages against syngeneic tumor cells was studied: it was found that the phagocytic activity was increased about 2.2 times and the cytotoxicity of macrophages was enhanced 1.4 times. The production of superoxide anion by macrophages from tumor-bearing mice was decreased in mice given the normal feed, while in mice maintained on the M-feed, it was increased by 1.3 times. Furthermore, the cytotoxic activities of lymphokine-activated killer cells and cytotoxic T cells were increased 1.4 and 1.5 times, compared with their counterparts from mice fed on the mushroom-free diet. These results suggest that mushroom powder given orally acts not only by activation of various effector cells to attack tumor cells, but also by potentiating the cellular functions and preventing a decrease of immune functions of the tumor-bearing host. © 1988, The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan. All rights reserved.